Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ukraine – the globe is scarred by violence

We live in a world of trouble. Conflicts today may be much less lethal than those that scarred the last century, but this brings little comfort. We remain deeply anxious. We can blame terrorism and the fear it inspires despite the statistically unimportant number of casualties it inflicts, or the contemporary media and the breathless cycle of “breaking news”, but the truth remains that the wars that seem to inspire the fanatics or have produced so many headlines in recent years prompt deep anxiety. One reason is that these wars appear to have no end in sight.

To explain these conflicts we reach for easy binary schema – Islam v the west; haves against have-nots; nations that “play by the rules” of the international system against “rogues”. We also look to grand geopolitical theories – the end of the Westphalian system, the west faced by “the rise of the rest” – or even just attribute the violence to “geography”. None of these explanations seems to adequately allay our concerns.

Up to 200 Russians reportedly working for shadowy military contractor may have been killed in a US airstrikes this month

Igor Kosotorov wasn’t a serving member of the Russian army. But relatives of the 45-year-old grocery shop owner believe he is among scores of Russian citizens killed this month in an airstrike by a US-led coalition near Deir al-Zour, an oil-rich territory in eastern Syria.

Families express relief and call for Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh to be put on trial

Relatives of the victims of an Islamic State torture and murder cell known as “the Beatles” have expressed relief that the two remaining members have been captured and said they wanted to see them stand trial.

It was a sentiment shared by the defence minister Tobias Ellwood, who said it would be wrong to send the two men from London, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh to the US detention camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, and they should face an international war crimes court instead.

The French journalist Nicolas Henin, a former Isis hostage, speaks about the need for justice following the capture of two British militants known as the ‘Beatles’ in Syria. Henin was abducted in June 2013 and held captive for 10 months before being released

Egypt has launched a massive offensive against Islamic militants in the Sinai peninsula, seeking to end a bloody conflict that has killed hundreds of civilians and soldiers in recent years.

A military spokesman said the operation would cover large parts of Sinai plus parts of the Nile delta and the western desert, where other militants have waged attacks.

Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former general, ordered the military to defeat militants in north Sinai within three months after an attack on a mosque in November killed 300 people, the deadliest such incident in the Arab world’s most populous country.